Old Friends
by tiina
Summary: This has been sitting on my hard drive for a while already. Set after the game. What do Squall and his friends do after saving the world? And who are their enemies now?


Final Fantasy VIII fanfic  
  
set after the game  
  
Spoilers  
  
Characters belong to Squaresoft.  
  
A tale about finding friends  
  
Old friends - prologue  
  
by tiina*  
  
"Where have you put the snacks, Squall?" Irvine called from the small kitchen of Squall's quarters. "I don't find the popcorns anywhere!"  
  
Squall rose from the couch where he had been sitting crouched between Rinoa and Selphie. The girls giggled and rolled their eyes. "Hold on a minute, bro. I'm coming", Squall said, resigned to his fate. He walked into the kitchen and picked the popcorns up from the shelf over the microwave. "Here." He gave the popcorns to Irvine who looked properly embarrassed. "Good thing that you have sharp eyes, you being a sniper and all", he said to Irvine with a completely straight face.  
  
Squall had lived in these rooms for six weeks now. After the successful mission to defeat Ultimecia, he had been living it up. He had been promoted to a Captain of the Garden. It was a new job and it granted him almost as much power as the headmaster's job. He was in charge of the Garden when it was moving. And while Sid had been on vacation, getting reacquainted with his wife, Squall had pretty much had both of the titles to himself. It had been hard work, but Squall had enjoyed it. But now when Sid had returned and with Edea helping him, Squall could finally sit back for a while. Now the Garden had settled on its old spot in Balamb and things had been quiet for a while. He could finally have his house warming party.  
  
Well, Selphie had insisted on it.  
  
Squall had to admit to himself that he liked when they were all gathered together like this. He felt like home with his friends. He watched, leaning on the door frame, how Rinoa and Selphie battled over the remote control. Quistis, who was sitting on a chair next to the two girls, caught Squall's eyes and grinned widely. Squall couldn't help but smile back. The moment was interrupted by Irvine, who bumped into Squall while carrying a huge bowl of popcorn. "Watch it, or you'll be cleaning up my apartment", Squall warned. Irvine just grinned. The sniper walked towards the couch and sat on the same spot Squall had been occupying a while ago. Irvine put his arms around the girls and sighed happily. Rinoa giggled and tried to get up but Selphie rested his head on Irvine's shoulder and made herself comfortable.  
  
As far as Squall knew, Irvine hadn't still said anything about his feelings towards Selphie to the girl herself. They were constantly hanging together but Selphie still told everybody they were just friends. Many of the girls in the Garden were nonetheless violently jealous of her. So much that even Squall had noticed.  
  
Rinoa freed herself from Irvine and walked to Squall. A small smile appeared to Squall's lips when he looked at Rinoa. The girl wrapped her arms around Squall's waist and planted a small kiss on his lips. They had spent every little moment of free time together since the Sorceress War had ended. She was trying to make it as easy as possible for Squall to open up to her. It had partly worked. He felt comfortable with her. Rinoa reached out and brushed Squall's hair out of his eyes. "Where's Zell? I haven't seen him in the whole day. I thought he'd come too."  
  
"He's just late. It's typical", Squall shrugged. "He'll show up before we have eaten all the food. I'm sure of it."  
  
"Yeah, you're right", Rinoa grinned. And immediately after Rinoa had said the words, there was a knock on the door. Quistis opened the door for Zell, who was wearing a wide grin. He was carrying a huge pile of junk food in his lap.  
  
"I'm here! The party can start!" he exclaimed and dropped all his stuff on the living room table. "Nachos! Lot's of them. And I found this." He drew a tape from his back pocket. "The footage from the victory celebrations! It should be fun to watch. I think only Selphie and Irvy have seen the whole tape."  
  
"That's a great idea, Zell", Squall nodded. "I haven't been able to see any of it. I haven't had the time."  
  
"We know that!" Irvine yelled from the couch. "We haven't seen you around much these past weeks. Thank god Sid's finally returned. We get our Squall back."  
  
They all gathered around the screen and Zell put the tape on. The camera was swinging and the noises of the celebrations muddled most of the speech, but the tape was hilarious. Everybody started laughing when they saw Zell who was stuffing his face with food. When he noticed that Irvine was shooting him, he almost choked on a chicken wing and Quistis had to come to rescue.  
  
"That was a good lesson for you to eat slower", Quistis giggled.  
  
"Quit it. I just love food", Zell grumbled, his mouth full of nachos.  
  
"We know", Selphie sighed. "Believe me, we do."  
  
"What bugs me is that I didn't get your and Rinoa's kiss on the tape", Irvine sighed when the tape was over. "Damn batteries."  
  
"That's just like you to spy on people like that!" Squall accused Irvine, blushing a little. The others just laughed at him.  
  
"Look, there's some old footage on the cassette after that!" Rinoa pointed.  
  
"That's the Garden tournament few years back", Zell observed. "The most exciting thing about that was that Squall and Seifer were both competing. Guess who ended up in the finals."  
  
"That's Quisty", Irvine said. "She looks strange."  
  
"Well, thanks a lot", Quistis grumbled. "I don't see anything wrong with me."  
  
"Your hair! It's all curly!" Irvine laughed. "What a sight!"  
  
"Shut up!" Quistis fumed and threw a pillow towards Irvine.  
  
Squall didn't pay attention to them. He was staring fixedly at the screen where he saw himself and Seifer sword fighting. At first he just looked at the movements, so familiar to him. How many times he had battled Seifer? He had stopped counting long time ago. He saw the familiar glint in his opponent's eyes and the half-smile on his lips. They were fighting furiously, Seifer provoking Squall to come at him. Squall watched how he finally was fooled by Seifer and defeated. He still remembered the bitter taste of failure that had been in his mouth that day. But he wasn't worse fighter than Seifer. He just should have been more coolheaded that day. If he hadn't lost his temper, he would have won. Squall shrugged, deep in his thoughts.  
  
"You're doing it again."  
  
Squall jumped. The speaker was Rinoa but she had caught him off guard. "Doing what?" he asked, fully well knowing what it was.  
  
"You're blocking me out."  
  
"Sorry. I didn't mean to. I just studied my technique from the tape. I wasn't at my best that day."  
  
"No. Don't try to fool me, Squall. I have studied your techniques too. I recognise that frown." Rinoa ran his finger over Squall's scar. "You're thinking about him. Again."  
  
"It's weird, seeing him like that." Squall nodded towards the screen. "Like the way he was back then."  
  
"You really miss him, don't you?" Rinoa whispered.  
  
"I don't know. I feel like I have lost a friend. It's strange." Squall frowned. "I didn't ever like him. But I guess I trusted him always to give honest feedback. And we understood each other in some fashion." Squall looked at Rinoa. "Does this make any sense?"  
  
Rinoa didn't say anything. She just ran her fingers through Squall's hair and kissed him.  
  
"What was that for?"  
  
"Thank you, Squall."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"You finally talk to me. You actually told me about your feelings and your thoughts." Rinoa kissed Squall again. "I love you so much."  
  
"Awwww..."  
  
Squall blinked. He had completely forgotten the others. He looked up and saw all of them looking at Rinoa and himself, starry eyed. He blushed deep crimson.  
  
"That was so sweet..." Selphie sighed. "I think I need a hankie."  
  
"You two are so mushy", Zell complained, but grinned widely at the same time. "You guys make me feel nauseous."  
  
"I think I'll need a hankie too", Irvine said, sniffing theatrically.  
  
Quistis just smiled with dreamy expression on her face.  
  
"Cut it out, guys", Rinoa laughed. "Squall's blushing." Then she turned back to Squall. "Admit it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You miss him. And that you actually, kinda like him too."  
  
Squall shrugged. "I think it's more complicated than that with me and Seifer. But… yeah."  
  
"What?" Zell exclaimed. "You miss the constant brawls? The bullying? The snide remarks? Are you gone nuts, brother?" Zell shook his head. "Your brain's gone mushy. Next you say that you miss Raijin too."  
  
"Seifer was always giving me hell", Quistis said. "He had real problem with authorities. But I kinda miss him too. Balamb Garden isn't the same without him."  
  
"I say Garden's _better_ without him." Zell stood up. "I can't believe you actually miss him. He was an unprofessional, good-for-nothing bully. He had an ego larger than this Garden but no talent to keep even himself in check. I mean, come on! He betrayed us all! He tortured Squall-" Squall flinched at the memory. "-And he's responsible for some of the deaths of our own people! And you MISS him!"  
  
"He..." Squall paused. "He was my best friend."  
  
Zell fell silent. He just looked at Squall. Then he sat back down on his chair. "Could we please not talk about HIM now?" he pleaded. "I came here to have fun. Not to argue about Seifer."  
  
"You're right, Zell", Selphie nodded. She stood up and climbed in Zell's lap, wrapping arms around him. "Let's leave Seifer where he belongs. To the past." She rested her head on top of Zell's and looked at Squall. Squall nodded and turned the screen off. Now the room was lighted just by the full moon shining from the window. Rinoa lighted couple of candles and they stayed up all night, talking and laughing. Zell got his good mood back and laughed with the rest of them. When the sun already started to rise, they made a large bed out of mattresses on the living room floor, where they could all sleep together the remainder of the night. When Zell's snoring could already be heard, Squall still couldn't sleep. He listened Rinoa's even breathing, when she slept in his arms, and thought about what he should do.  
  
tiina* 2001 


End file.
